The present invention relates to a bail arm turning mechanism for a spinning reel.
One conventional bail arm turning mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,161 in which a bail arm is turned by pulling a manupulation lever by a finger. According to the conventional mechanism as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a pivot shaft 113 extends through a bail attaching member 102 which is secured to a rotor 101, and the manupulation lever 115 is pivotally secured to the attaching member 102 through the shaft 113. The lever 115 has one end provided with a manupulation portion 114 adapated to be lifted by the forefinger of the hand holding the rod 118. Another end of the lever 115 is provided with an actuation tab 116 engageable with a projection 109 provided at one end of a crank 110. The crank 110 is rotatably supported on the bail attaching member 102, and has another end formed with a slot 108. One end of the bail arm 104 is connected to an arm lever 105 rotatably supported on the bail attaching member 102 by a pin 106. The arm lever 105 has an upper surface from which a pin 112 extends upwardly to engage the slot 108.
By manually pulling the manupulation portion 114, the actuation tab 116 urges the projection 109, so that the arm lever 105 is rotated about the pin 106 because of the engagement between the slot 108 and the projection 112. As a result, the bail arm 104 is turned from its fishing line winding position (FIG. 1) to the releasing position.
However, with this structure, since the crank 110 is rotatably moved on the upper surface of the arm lever 105, these mechanical components are protruded in assembly radially outwardly of the rotor 101. As a result, rotational imbalance may occur. Further, since these components are exposed to the atmosphere, seawater or dust may enter these components, smooth bail turning action may become degraded due to generation of rust, and fishing line may be entangled with the crank to cause line cutting.
Another conventional bail arm turning mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,450 assigned to Brunswick Corp. and entitled "Quick Bail Opening System for Fishing Reel".